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yestorday 
Today 

Tomorrow. 



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■^] 






SEA TTLE- 

Yesterday, Today and 
Tomorrow 



-being the meat of the question, 
or the facts and statistics show- 
ing the growth in the past, the 
might in the present and the 
promise in the future of 

SEATTLE— 

''The Seaport of 
Success" 



Copyrighted 1914 




1870 

population 

1,100 

1913 

over 300,000 



the New York 

of the 

Pacific Coast 




SEA TTLE- 

Yesterday, 
Today and 

Tomorrow 



Seattle, in 1870 a little village of scarcely 1,100 souls; in 
1900 an embryonic metropolis struggling to adapt itself to 
the conditions forced upon it by the development of Alaska 
and the Northwest; today a prosperous, beautiful and rapidly 
growing city, with a population of more than 300,000. 

To the casual observer, Seattle in 1900, resembled nothing 
so much as the proverbial small boy who has outgrown his 
clothes. With a business center cut up and hemmed in by 
hills more than a hundred feet in height, and for that reason 
confined to portions of but two streets; with its wonderful, 
land-locked harbor practically undeveloped and wharfage 
totally inadequate for the already heavy demands of the 
over-seas and Alaska trade; with railroad terminal facilities 
unworthy of an inland county-seat; with huts and cow- 
stables where today are mammoth department stores and sky- 
scrapers; it required a prophetic eye and an understanding 
of the Western Spirit, a restless, inexhaustible energy that 
finds its keenest delight in surmounting the greatest diffi- 
culties, to foresee the Seattle of today. 

That there were men possessed of this keen insight into the 
future, and of a boundless confidence in the wealth and 
promise of the Sound city, the hub of the great Pacific 
Northwest, is evidenced by the wonderful changes that have 
taken place. Today, level streets and handsome office build- 
ings and hotels have replaced the hills; millions of dollars 
have been spent and millions more will be spent, to give 
Seattle harbor and terminal facilities second to none in the 
world; the debris from the regrading of the hills has been 
used to fill in the tide-flats, making of them manufacturing 
sites sufficient for the factories of a Pittsburg; today Seattle 
holds the key to the trans-Pacific trade. 

Today, Seattle presents a City Beautiful to the new- 
comer; a city of clean, broad, well-lighted streets, lined with 
handsome business blocks, theaters and department stores; 
a city that reminds the visitor of that Atlantic metropolis. 
New York, whose history of ultimate supremacy on the 
Atlantic Coast will undoubtedly be repeated in Seattle; a 



fS70 




^9t3 



JAN 14 1914 



©CI.A3C1580 



^^ 






city majestic in its present glory and pregnant with the 
possibilities o£ tomorrow. 

Yesterday, a mere huddle o£ poorly built-shacks, sheltering 
a handful o£ hardy pioneers; today a mighty city, with a 
population of more than three hundred thousand; tomorrow, 
one of the five great cities of the country. 

Nowhere in all the world is the real value of accumulated 
"tomorrows" better understood and appreciated than in the 
Pacific Northwest, and in Seattle, the focal point for all the 
wealth of this great country, the Gateway to Alaska and 
the Orient, and the Queen City of what, to quote ex-Presi- 
dent Roosevelt, will be the third state in the Union, this 
understanding of how tomorrow influences the business of 
today, finds its fullest expression, 

A business may be built upon the personality of a single 
individual, but a city represents the combined judgments of 
hundreds of thousands of individuals. Behind it is their 
united energy and capital, and their confidence in its future 
determines its growth and prosperity. Primarily, a city is a 
corporate body of people, and realty values in any city are 
directly proportionate to its population. A presentation in 
condensed form of Seattle's assets, her peculiarly stategic 
location, her marvellous growth, and her resources, together 
with a conservative estimate of what the future will bring 
forth, affords, therefore, a proper viewpoint from which to 
consider Seattle realty as an investment. 

Situated on Elliott Bay, a branch of Puget Sound, the 
great land-locked arm of the Pacific, and bordering on the 
fresh-water lakes, Lake Union and Lake Washington, which 
are connected by a canal with the waters of the bay, Seattle 
occupies a most commanding position. 

Seattle is two days nearer to the Oriental ports than San 
Francisco, and 470 miles nearer to the Great Lakes at Duluth. 
From Seattle to Chicago the distance is 163 miles less than 
from San Francisco. Time is the essence of the contract for 
freight delivery with the shipper and the consignee, and 
this condition will enter into consideration to the advantage 
of Seattle with the completion of the Panama Canal. From 
New York, vessels will traverse 4,465 miles to Honolulu; 
10,046 miles to Yokohama, and 11,607 miles to Hong Kong; 
in comparison with 2,410 miles, 4.240 miles, and 5,380 miles 
respectively, from Puget Sound. These advantages enjoyed 
by Seattle cannot but be of the greatest benefit in the future 
development of her trade with the Far East. Her proximity 
to Alaska and the Orient insures Seattle an ever-increasing 
volume of business with those countries, and the opening 
of the Panama Canal will unquestionably afford a tremend- 



tomorrow 
one of 
the five 
great cities 
of the 
country 



the logical 

receiving 

and 

shipping 

port 




Seattle 

should have 

500,000 

in 1915 



Seattle's 

site 

wisely 

chosen 



ous impetus to trade and development in Seattle and the 
Northwest. 

Reasoning in accordance with the fallacious method of 
procedure usually followed — the consideration of effects, 
rather than the seeking of the cause — let us consider briefly 
the history of Seattle's growth as shown by her population. 

Reduced to even figures, the following table shows Seat- 
tle's growth and gain in population during the past forty- 
three years: 

Year. Population. 

1870 1,100 

1880 - 3,500 

1890 42,800 

1900 80,000 

1905 160,000 

1910.. 237,200 

1913 301,700 

It is interesting to note, that although Seattle made her 
greatest gain in population during the decade between 1900 
and 1910, she has gained almost as much in the past three 
years as in the five years preceding 1910. Taking the record 
as a whole, and bearing in mind the periods of national 
depression which prevailed in '93, '97 and 1907 and the far 
from satisfactory business conditions that have obtained 
during the past two years, it must be evident to even the 
most skeptical, that the city's continued growth is certain 
and irresistible. There is no possible line of reasoning which 
can deny to Seattle a population of approximately half a 
million in 1915 — the date of the opening of the Panama 
Canal — and what effect this growth will have on Seattle 
realty values is merely a matter of mathematics. 

The growth of a city depends upon the country tributary 
to it in so far as its natural resources and population are con- 
cerned, its location as a receiving and distributing center, 
and its accessibility by both land and water. 

When the early pioneers selected Seattle's present site as 
their home little did they realize how wisely they had 
chosen. Seattle has a vast empire behind it; while at its 
elbow to the North, the Alaskan treasure houses are but 
waiting the touch of progress to pour into the city's lap a 
stream of wealth many times greater than even their present 
gigantic sum; to the westward lies the Orient with its 
countless hordes, who are but beginning to appreciate the 
products of the more civilized countries of the Occident. 

The great wheat fields of Eastern Washington must find 
their outlet through Seattle ; the vast lumber industry of the 
State uses this port for its shipments by water to all parts 




of the globe. And this commerce will double and treble in 
volume with the opening of the Panama Canal. The thou- 
sands and thousands of acres of rich agricultural land now 
idle, will be occupied and placed upon a producing basis by 
hundreds of thousands of immigrants attracted by the oppor- 
tunities of the Northwest and brought here via the Panama 
Canal. Emigration from the Eastern States will play its 
part too, and in the next five years, little, if any, of the 
more desirable agricultural land in the States of Washington, 
Oregon, Idaho and Montana will be unoccupied. 

Seattle has grown — beyond even the dreams of the wildest 
visionary of fifteen years ago — and without the aid of what is 
usually considered essential to the growth of a city, a densely 
populated surrounding country. Its continued and increased 
rate of growth is certain and irresistible. 

Many men of national and international reputation have 
predicted for Seattle a great future. Andrew Carnegie said 
the great cities of this country would be New York, Chicago 
and Seattle. And Seattle is attaining that destiny far more 
rapidly than the outsider can realize. 

Seattle has tributary to it a far greater and better timber 
belt, far more prolific wheat fields and agricultural lands than 
that which established a population of approximately 600,000 
for St. Paul, Minneapolis and Duluth. The yield per acre of 
Washington's volcanic ash lands is almost double that of the 
Mississippi Valley farms, while the fame of her apples ha:s 
gone abroad to every corner of the globe. 

Mining, principally, established a city of more than 200,000 
at Denver, yet Seattle has a mining territory tributary to it, 
in the Northwestern States and Alaska, many times richer 
than that of Denver. The list of mineral wealth includes 
gold, copper, silver and practically all the metals, and coal, 
many of the mines being within fifty miles of the city. More 
than $215,000,000 worth of gold has been received at the 
United States Assay Office since its establishment in 1908. 

Beyond all question, Seattle's greatest asset, for her future, 
is her harbor. It enjoys the distinction of being one of the 
freest, if not the very freest, port in the world. With a depth 
within anchorage limits of from 25 to 35 fathoms, with an 
extreme range in the rise and fall of tide of 17 feet; with a 
present shore line of 12 miles, which is soon to be increased 
by an additional ten miles on the Duwamish River, at an 
expense of $1,300,000, and by a further increase of 15 miles 
on the shores of Lake Union and Lake Washington; by the 
completion of the Lake Washington Canal at an expense of 
$3,625,000; with the addition of 17,511 feet of dock frontage 
at an expense of $6,300,000, for which bonds have been voted, 



Panama Canal 
will boost 
Seattle's 
shipping 



a rich 
empire 
tributary to 
Seattle 




Seattle 

preparing 

for 

opening of 

Panama 

Canal 



fresh water 

harbor 

will be 

ready 



or a total of almost forty miles of dockage; Seattle, the little 
hamlet with its single saw-mill and half dozen stores of the 
yesterday of fifty years ago, is about to become an immense 
sea-port, rivaling in size and amount of tonnage handled, 
such famous ports as New York, Hamburg, Liverpool and 
Marsailles. 

Grain elevators with a capacity of 775,000 bushels; oil 
docks having a storage capacity of 187,500 barrels; four float- 
ing dry-docks with a combined lifting capacity of 22,900 
tons, the largest being of 12,000 tons capacity; these are part 
of Seattle's present equipment for handling the ever-increas- 
ing volume of her shipping. 

Nearby is the Bremerton Navy Yard, one of the eight 
under Federal jurisdiction, and one which ranks high in 
importance as a naval base. At the Navy Yard the United 
States Government has two dry-docks, one of which is 650 
feet long and 90 feet wide. The other, but recently com- 
pleted by the Government, is 863 feet in length, 153 feet wide 
and 47 feet in depth. It will easily accommodate a vessel 
800 feet in length and whose draught is not more than 40 feet, 
or in other words, any vessel afloat, except the greatest of the 
Atlantic liners, and ensures to Seattle, dockage facilities 
unequalled on the Pacific Coast. The larger of the two Navy 
Yard docks is constructed with a concrete foundation and a 
granite basin, and represents an expenditure of nearly 
$2,000,000. The use of these Government dry-docks is ex- 
tended to merchant vessels. 

In connection with Seattle's wonderful harbor, the canal 
connecting Lake Union and Lake Washington must be taken 
into consideration, as well as the developments on Elliott 
Bay proper. The completion of the canal, which will be 
effected in 1915, will give to Seattle a total water frontage of 
over 150 miles, of which more than 50 miles will be readily 
available for docks. As evidence of the magnitude of the 
undertaking, it is worth noting that included in the items of 
expense is a concrete lock, the second largest in the world, 
and which is being constructed by the Government at an 
expense of $2,275,000. With the completion and opening of 
the canal, Seattle challenges the world to show another sea- 
port that offers a land-locked, fresh water harbor, some thirty 
miles long and five miles wide. Among other things for 
which this fresh-water harbor will be prized by deep-water 
mariners, is the fact that fresh water kills and destroys 
barnacles, and the various forms of marine growth that 
adhere to the bottoms and sides of vessels, necessitating 
frequent docking and scraping. 

With the opening of the Panama Canal, there is every 




reason to expect an enormous increase in Seattle's shipping, 
and it is essential that she be prepared to take the fullest 
advantage of the natural facilities which she possesses. With 
this end in view, the Port Commission voted in March, 1912, 
$8,100,000 for the construction of wharves, etc., including 
$5,000,000 for the acquisition of a site and the erection of 
six concrete docks, each 1,400 feet in length and 150 feet 
wide, forming as a whole a unit very similar to, and in fact 
patterned after, the Bush Terminals of Brooklyn. Other 
docks, warehouses, etc., are in process of construction and 
under construction, on Lake Washington, Lake Union, the 
Duwamish River and the East Waterway. 

To the effect the opening of the Panama Canal will have 
upon the population, industries and wealth of Seattle, no 
human being can place a limit. From the British Isles and 
from every corner of Europe, thousands of immigrants will 
pour into the Northwest. Associations are already formed, 
and others are in the process of formation, among the Scan- 
dinavian, Swiss and German-born residents of Seattle and 
Washington, having for their purpose the promotion of 
immigration from their respective native lands to the North- 
west immediately following the opening of the Panama Canal 
and the establishment of cheap, all-water routes to Seattle, 
the port of entry to the richest, most promising section of 
the United States. 

A large proportion of these countless thousands of immi- 
grants will remain in and about Seattle, creating an active 
demand for tenements, apartment houses and residential 
property of every description; supplying the need for labor 
in the many manufactories of the city and those projected 
industries, involving the expenditure of millions, which are 
waiting but the magic touch of "The Water Haul from Coast 
to Coast" before they shed the chrysalis of promise, and 
emerge full-fledged manufacturing plants; and adding to the 
city's visible wealth the major portion of the millions of 
dollars that will be paid them in wages. 

Others of these newly-made Americans will turn to the 
soil, and under their tillage and watchful care, the famous 
Logged-Off Lands of Washington will come into their own, 
and double or treble the agricultural wealth of the state. 

The opening of the Panama Canal must inevitably in- 
crease Seattle's foreign as well as her domestic traffic. It 
will be the means of establishing new steamship lines, as well 
as diverting to Seattle some of the lines at present plying 
from European ports. It will open channels of trade beyond 
estimation. An eminent authority on traffic matters is of 
the opinion that a single class of Seattle's exports — timber 



big docks 
are being 
built 



immigrants 
from Europe 
will come 
to Seattle 




increased 

trade with 

foreign 

countries 



more 

steamship 

lines to 

Seattle 



products — to the United Kingdom alone, will increase 200 
to 300 per cent, to say nothing of corresponding increases in 
other products and the tremendous volume of new business 
that will be developed between Seattle and other European 
countries and with the states situated on the Atlantic Coast, 
the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River, 

One effect of the opening of the Panama Canal will be, 
in all probability, to turn the shipments of the immense 
fruit and grain crops of interior Washington, Oregon, Idaho 
and Montana, through Seattle and thence to the eastern parts 
of the United States and Europe, by an all-water route, at a 
much lower freight cost than is possible at present. 

Merchandise from Europe and the eastern portions of the 
United States will be obtained at a much lower cost for 
freight, thus enabling Seattle merchants and manufacturers 
to compete on more favorable terms with the business houses 
of the Middle West. Commerce of all kinds, both export 
and import, will receive a tremendous impetus with the com- 
pletion of the Panama Canal in 1915, and the preparations 
now being made by the city of Seattle will enable it to take 
its rightful place for all time among the greatest sea-ports 
of the world. 

Vessels now coming to Seattle in ballast will bring instead, 
cargoes of value to the manufacturer, such as mahogany and 
other hard woods from South America. There is no ques- 
tion but that the opening of the canal will be the most aus- 
picious happening for the West since the discovery of gold 
in California. It will bring population and increase trade. 
It will open up a new world of commerce and manufacture 
and inaugurate new industries, and Seattle, The Sea Port 
of Success, is today making giant preparations for the enor- 
mous business and growth that must come tomorrow. Con- 
sidering all that the canal means to Seattle in the way of 
population, commerce, wealth and power, we cannot but para- 
phrase the crytic utterance of a certain French king — "After 
the canal, the deluge," for it can bring to Seattle nothing 
less than a veritable deluge of prosperity. 

The logical point to which to turn from the consideration 
of Seattle's harbor and the influence of the Panama Canal 
upon her shipping and commerce, is to her facilities for 
water transportation. At the present time fifty-seven water 
lines, domestic and foreign, are plying out of Seattle to all 
parts of the glebe. Of the forty-nine various steam lines, 
three ply between Seattle and European ports via the Straits 
of Magellan; one to the ports of Europe via the Suez; one 
to Australia; two to the Hawaiian Islands; five to British 
Columbia; eleven to Alaska; four to the Orient; three to 




California; one to New York via the Straits o£ Magellan; 
one to New York via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; and the 
remainder to local and coast-wise points. 

Definite advices and unconfirmed rumors are received 
almost daily to the effect that this or that great steamship 
company will establish service to Seattle when once the 
Panama Canal is put into operation. Among the latest and 
most authentic instances, is the Hamburg-American, which 
will inaugurate a regular service to this port in 1915. 

While water transportation is undoubtedly the oldest chan- 
nel by which the commerce of the world has been moved, 
its sister, the railroad, the forerunner of all genuine civiliza- 
tion, has played, and will play, a part of incalculable im- 
portance in the history of Seattle's growth. 

Today, four trans-continental railroads serve Seattle 
over their own tracks, five others send through equipment 
into the city, and still others are planning ways and means 
of entering Seattle. The first are the Oregon-Washington 
Railroad & Navigation Company; the Chicago, Milwaukee 
& St. Paul; the Northern Pacific; and the Great Northern. 
The Canadian Pacific, the Burlington, the Soo, the Southern 
Pacific and the Chicago & North-Western operate through 
equipment in and out of the city. The Canadian Pacific and 
Grand Trunk systems operate large steamers to their own 
piers from a connection with their railway lines. 

Two handsome terminal stations, magnificent examples 
of all that is modern in railway passenger station construc- 
tion, have been erected and are used jointly by the Great 
Northern and Northern Pacific; and the Chicago, Milwaukee 
& St. Paul and the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Naviga- 
tion Company. The passenger traffic records show that 
2,527,650 persons entered Seattle by rail during 1912. 

Seattle is well provided with railroad facilities. There 
is regular and direct connection to all points over the lines 
named above. The interurban and city lines are among the 
best in the country. One line operates to Tacoma, over 30 
miles to the south; two lines run to Renton, a coal-mining 
center, 13 miles southeast of Seattle; and another runs to 
Everett, 30 miles north of the city. The street car system 
in the city has an aggregate length of 227 miles, rendering 
all localities easy of access. 

If the over-worked and much abused euphemism, "Where 
Rail Meets Sail," were ever justified, surely it is in the his- 
tory of Seattle's transportation facilities. 

Of almost equal importance with Seattle's advantages 
in rail and water transportation are her many sources of 
power. Tremendous energy is stored in the hills adjacent 



Seattle 
to become 
a greater 
railroad 
center 



"where 
rail 
meets 
sail" 




hydro-electric 

power 

supplies 

Seattle 



big 

coal mines 

near 

Seattle 



to the city. Its accessibility and the relatively small charge 
made for service will play an important part in the indus- 
trial development of this western city. 

The enormous volume of hydro-electric horse power 
within a fifty-mile radius of Seattle, and developed to but a 
slight portion of its possible volume, has never been even 
approximately estimated. Suffice it to say that to date every 
possible demand for power has been met, while new sources 
of supply are easily available and greatly augmented power 
might be derived from streams and falls already utilized in 
part. 

Three electric light and power companies serve the city, 
among them a municipal plant, by no means the largest of 
the three, that offers at present approximately 250,000 horse- 
power. A minimum rate of about ^c per kilowatt hour 
establishes the truthfulness of Seattle's claim to have the 
cheapest electric power for manufacturing purposes in the 
United States. 

The Electric City will be another name for the Seattle 
of the future. Nature has done much to provide the raw 
material, the unequalled geographical location, the sources 
of unlimited power, and the city has captains of industry, 
backed by capital, who foresee its great opportunities and 
are taking time by the forelock. Seattle has advantages over 
Niagara in power possibilities, over Pittsburg in its facilities 
for shipment, and over New York in its nearness to countries 
in the market for articles it can supply. 

Another item of the greatest importance to Seattle and 
closely allied with the problem of power, is its coal deposits. 
While the introduction and use of fuel-oil has wielded an 
enormous influence on the coal industry, and thereby ex- 
tended the period that shall intervene before the coal de- 
posits of the world are exhausted, Washington has, at its 
present or even with increased use, a supply of coal ample 
for centuries to come. No one can as yet predict with cer- 
tainty the extent of its coal fields, but even were they ex- 
hausted, Washington's next door neighbor, Alaska, stands 
ready, with its enormous deposits, to fill any order. 

During the year 1912, the coal mines of the state, west 
of the Cascades and near Seattle, produced some two million 
odd tons, having an approximate value of $5,500,000. Nearly 
all of the coal-bearing lands of the state lie west of the 
Cascades, and they add a by no means inconsiderable 
amount to Seattle's wealth and her promise for the future. 
The manufacture of coke also plays an important part in the 
economic history of the city, and is an industry which is as 




10 



yet in its infancy; approximately 50,000 tons, with a value 
of about $271,000, being produced, however, during 1912. 

To the analytical mind the question inevitably presents 
itself, what conditions, other than the wonderful provisions 
of Nature, have caused the phenomenal growth in the popu- 
lation of Seattle and what are the other assets and industrial 
conditions on which the city depends for its future. The 
answer is found in the history of her trade relations with 
other countries, the scope and magnitude of her manufactur- 
ing enterprises, and the tremendous awakening along all 
industrial lines that awaits the entire Pacific Coast upon 
the completion of the Panama Canal. 

Seattle's first industry was a saw-mill, and in the future, 
as in the past, lumber and its allied industries will play a 
big part in the prosperity of the city. Though more than 
half a century has passed since the inauguration of this 
initial manufacturing plant, producing barely enough lum- 
ber for the needs of the settlers of the Puget Sound country, 
timber products are today one of the greatest sources of 
Seattle's wealth, while just across the Sound from where a 
totem pole marks, in Pioneer Square, the site of the first 
saw-mill in the Northwest, are the famous Port Blakely 
Mills, the largest in the world. 

Exclusive of the great Port Blakely Mill, there are located 
in Seattle 63 plants devoted to the production of lumber 
and lumber products, having an invested capital of $7,720,000, 
paying annually in wages $2,222,000 and shipping by water 
in 1912 forest products having a value of $1,467,076, to 
which must be added rail shipments from Seattle to the 
approximate value of $2,595,000. ' Two of the mills on 
Elliott Bay have a cutting capacity of 125,000 feet each per 
ten-hour day. Many of the smaller mills along the bay have 
daily capacities of 50,000 feet, while several of the mills on 
the Lake Washington Canal have an output of from 50,000 
to 120,000 feet per day. 

Further evidence of the gigantic proportions of the 
Washington lumber industry is found in the facts that the 
mills of the state shipped by rail, during 1911, 85,421 car- 
loads of lumber, having at a low estimate a value of $25,- 
926,300, and 33,708 carloads of shingles, whose estimated 
value was $11,797,800; and while complete statistics of rail 
shipments for 1912 are not available, it is everywhere con- 
ceded that they greatly exceeded the figures for 1911 because 
of the improved conditions of the lumber market,, and the 
fact that water shipments for 1912 show an increase over 
those of 1911 of about 44 per cent. One-third of the mer- 
chantable timber of the country is contained in the forests 
of the Northwest. 



Seattle 
has many 
other assets 



lumber 
industry 
a big 
factor 



11 




Esheries 

a big 

industry 



salmon 

canneries 

employ 

30,000 



What the lumber shipments of Seattle will be during the 
years to come after 1915 no man can say, but it is ridicu- 
lously conservative to state that they will increase tenfold. 
The fact must not be overlooked, that in addition to the 
great increase which is bound to come in the amount of 
foreign shipments, the opening of the canal will permit 
Washington lumber manufacturers to ship by water at lower 
freight rates and so compete on more favorable terms with 
other lumber producing centers for the trade of the Atlantic 
Coast and Gulf of Mexico ports. 

One of the most vital factors in the growth and success of 
Seattle is the fishing industry. Of its many branches, the 
most important is the salmon packing and its allied trades. 
Practically the entire salmon pack of Alaska and Puget 
Sound is handled and financed through Seattle. Some idea 
of its magnitude may be gained from the fact that shipments 
of canned salmon to foreign countries, amounted to $1,599,- 
993, the total water shipments being $2,241,402, in 1912, and 
while figures for rail shipments are not obtainable, it is cer- 
tain that they must have exceeded the value of the water 
shipments many times. This contention is supported by the 
fact that but 321,592 cases were moved by water out of a 
total pack for the year, in Alaska and Puget Sound, of 
4,476,254 cases, practically all of which moved from Seattle. 

For the season which has just closed, 1913, no authentic 
figures are as yet obtainable, but the fixgures of 1912 will be 
greatly surpassed for the reasons that 1913 was what is 
known locally as a "big year," a name derived from the fact 
that the sock-eye salmon enter the Sound but once in every 
four years, and because, in anticipation of the "big year," 
all of the canneries on Puget Sound and Alaskan waters 
increased their equipment and many new traps and canneries 
were put into operation for the first time. 

The annual expenditure in the salmon canning industry 
on the Coast reaches $30,300,000, of which $5,600,000 is paid 
out for labor. In the value of its product salmon canning 
is exceeded by one industry only — lumber. It gives direct 
employment to 30,000, and indirectly employs many addi- 
tional thousands who are engaged in the production of sup- 
plies which the business must have. 

Mild-cured salmon, another important product of the fish- 
ing industry, is handled principally through Seattle, the 
larger concerns in this line of business making this city 
their headquarters. 

To the salmon trade must be added the enormous volume 
of business produced by the fresh fish concerns which em- 
ploy a large fleet of vessels, including over one hundred 
motor schooners, plying to the halibut and cod banks off 




12 



Cape Flattery and the Alaskan Coast. Fresh salmon, her- 
ring, black cod, halibut and other fish are delivered daily to 
the dealers. Almost the entire shell-fish pack of Puget 
Sound, including oysters, clams, shrimps, etc., is handled 
through Seattle. Whaling companies operating in Alaskan 
waters have their headquarters here, and their catch is 
brought to Seattle for distribution. Salt fish and miscellane- 
ous fishery products add their quota to the total value of the 
industry. 

These facts and figures present in some degree the vol- 
ume and importance of the fishing industry to Seattle. The 
demand is not only large, but steadily increasing, and do- 
mestic shipments of fish from Seattle, by express and freight, 
constitute a large proportion of the business done by the 
railroads. The inter-mountain and middle West states rely 
upon Washington fisheries for their fresh fish, while the 
canned product is on the shelves of practically every store 
in the country which caters to the food purchasing public. 

Although but an infant, having its inception in 1908, the 
increase in the number and output of plants engaged in the 
m.anufacture of cement seems almost phenomenal. At pres- 
ent the daily production is about 6,000 barrels and a large 
increase is predicted for the immediate future. The beds or 
quarries of lime-rock and clay from which the raw ma- 
terial is secured, are some distance north of the city, but the 
business is financed in Seattle and the general offices are 
located here. In this age of concrete construction the vital 
importance of the cement industry to Seattle is becoming 
more generally appreciated and new plants are being erected 
and put into operation from time to time. Unquestionably 
this branch of Seattle's business will benefit to a great de- 
gree by the operation of the Panama Canal, and will show 
an even greater increase in volume during the next ten years. 

Exclusive of the coal, lumber, fishing and cement in- 
dustries, there are in Seattle other manufactories to the 
number of approximately 750, having an invested capital of 
$40,280,000, an annual output of close to $54,000,000, and 
employing some 15,000 men to whom $9,780,000 are paid 
yearly in wages. To this may be added factories which are 
in the course of construction, or which have advanced be- 
yond the stage of mere theoretical and conditional projects, 
representing an investment of approximately $3,700,000, of- 
fering employment to over 2,000 persons and carrying with 
them an annual payroll of more than $300,000. 

. Included in the list of Seattle's present industries are 
Bread and Bakery Goods, Brick and Tile, Butter, Cheese 
and Condensed Milk, Canning and Preserving, Carriages, 



demand 
for fish 
on the 
increase 



750 

other 

manufactories 



13 




big 

shipments 

of 

Hour 



Alaska 

a big asset 

to Seattle 



Wagons and Materials, Men's Clothing including Shirts, 
Confectionery, Copper, Tin and Sheet Iron, Flourmill and 
Gristmill Products, Foundries and Machine Shops, Fur 
Goods, Furniture and Refrigerators, Leather Gloves and 
Mittens, Ice Manufacturers, Boot and Shoe Manufacturers, 
Woolen Mills, Matches, Women's Wash Dresses, Sweaters, 
Oil Refinery, Shipbuilding Plants, Canning Machinery, Gas 
Engine Works, Coke Furnace and Gas Plant, many miscel- 
laneous manufacturing concerns of less individual impor- 
tance, and one of the largest wood-pipe factories in the 
world. 

There are also five breweries, the largest of which has over 
450 employes, a paid-up capital of $3,000,000, an annual pay- 
roll of $500,000, and an annual output of 402,000 barrels of 31 
gallons each, of which it exports 12,000 barrels. The im- 
portance of flour in the list of Seattle's products is evidenced 
by the exports for the year 1912, amounting to 1,617,116 
barrels, having a" total value of $6,994,680. A comparison of 
this with the total amount of flour exported from the entire 
United States during the same period, 11,006,487 barrels, 
throws a very favorable light upon the showing made by 
the Port of Seattle in the amount and value of the exports of 
one of its home manufactured products. 

Dairy farming, to which Washington is so well adapted by 
reasons of soil and climatic conditions, will be one of the big 
industries of the state in the very near future, and its value 
to Seattle has already found expression in the establishment 
of huge condenseries, among them the largest in the world, 
having their general offices in this city. 

The importance of Alaska's share in the development of 
Seattle can scarcely be overestimated. Beginning with the 
arrival of the S. S. Portland in 1897 with the first Alaskan 
gold, there has been an ever-increasing flow of wealth to 
Seattle from Alaskan and Bering Sea ports. The discovery 
and development of Alaska's mineral, marine, and as circum- 
stances now seem to indicate, agricultural resources, have 
given and will give to Seattle an incalculable amount of 
wealth and business. 

Alaska, the country that was thought high-priced at less 
than $8,000,000 by our statesmen, when Russia offered it for 
sale at the close of the Civil War, and which has sent 
$210,407,068 in gold to the Seattle Assay Office alone, from 
the time of its opening in 1908 up to 1912, and which pro- 
duced uncounted millions of the precious metal prior to 
1908, and which is still yielding millions of the world's 
standard of wealth annually, has other products, any one of 
which is worth more in any year than the purchase price of 




14 



the entire territory, is one of Seattle's best customers. The 
exports from Seattle to Alaskan and Bering Sea ports in 
1912 amounted to $12,181,975 and $3,077,086 respectively. 
They buy largely of every product manufactured on Elliott 
Bay, grown in Washington, or brought in by the wholesalers. 

Some idea of the part Seattle plays in the world's com- 
merce as a distributing center and exporter may be gained 

from the following table : 1912 1912 

Country. Exports. Imports. 

British Columbia $ 7,850,098 $ 1,697,698 

The Orient - - 9,780,579 22,565,324 

British Isles — 2,196,921 525,085 

Germany 322,114 297,841 

South America 714,710 152,205 

Australia .- - - 202,068 34,158 

Mexico - - 30,128 69,653 

Siberia 35,602 

Africa 72,348 

Philippines 1,671,570 1,517,827 

Hawaiian Islands 1,436,404 225,911 

Coastwise and Local - 19,533,281 11,413,700 

Alaska - 12,181,975 9,389,803 

Bering Sea 3,077,086 

Other Countries 323,982 



$59,204,884 $62,220,291 

Total of Exports and Imports by water alone, from Seattle 
in 1912, $121,425,175. 

Shipments by rail from Seattle in 1912 show a total of 
2,208,855 tons in-bound and 826,626 tons out-bound, the value 
of which, in the almost total absence of authoritative sta- 
tistics, cannot be even approximated. And this total of 
3,035,481 tons of freight in and out of Seattle by rail alone, 
is exclusive of all merchandise, both foreign and domestic, 
originating outside of Seattle and consigned via the city to 
other points. The passenger traffic records show that 
3,489,291 persons arrived in Seattle by water during 1912 and 
that 2,527,650 entered by rail during the same period. 

The facts and figures we have presented for your consid- 
eration have shown Seattle's resources, have shown logically 
and conclusively that Seattle will become the New York 
of the Pacific Coast, and it remains for us to place before 
you the conditions which establish its right to the title of 
"The City of Homes." 

To the West rise the snow-capped peaks of the Olympic 
range, roseate in the rays of the setting sun, gleaming like 



Seattle's 

world 

commerce 

today 

large 



Seattle 
the city 
of homes 



15 




splendid 

water 

system 



cheapest 

electric 

power 

in country 



polished steel in the clear light of early morn; to the South, 
giant Rainier, "The Mountain that Was God," to quote the 
Indian myth, lifts his glacier-clad sides 14,531 feet above the 
sea, the highest mountain within the United States proper; 
to the East, the eternal snow fields of the Cascades complete 
the silver frame of snow-tipped mountain peaks that hem in 
the city. 

Seattle's water supply, installed at a cost of $11,395,997, 
is on a par with that of any municipality in the country. 
The supply is brought from the Cedar River, in the foot- 
hills of the Cascades, a distance of twenty-eight miles, by 
gravitation to the distributing reservoirs, which have a stor- 
age capacity of 270,102,000 gallons. The daily capacity of the 
Cedar River plant is 68,000,000 gallons and the average daily 
consumption of the city is 30,000,000. The water is con- 
veyed direct to the reservoirs and stand-pipes, from which 
extend 540 miles of water mains to the different sections 
of the city. At the highest rate charged for water in Seattle, 
its cost amounts to half a cent per fifty-two gallon barrel. 
Its purity is beyond suspicion, and the supply is unfailing. 
The business section of this city is also piped with high- 
pressure mains, affording additional protection against fire. 

Seattle has a most equable climate, with no extremes of 
heat or cold. The summers are cool or moderately warm, and 
the winters are mild. There is little, if any, snow fall except 
in the mountains. In summer the temperature rarely reaches 
90 degrees, and zero weather is unrecorded in the city. The 
weather bureau records show an annual mean temperature of 
51.4 degrees, ranging from 40.6 in January to 64.7 degrees 
in August. The annual average rainfall of Seattle is 35.88 
inches. Beyond all question Seattle has the mildest, most 
equable and most desirable climate of any port in the world 
in the same North Latitude. Cyclones, blizzards, cloud- 
bursts and droughts are unknown. 

Two privately owned and one municipal plant furnish the 
city with light and power. The municipal plant, put into 
operation in 1905, at an initial cost of $340,000, has today a 
valuation of $5,000,000. This city-owned plant, besides fur- 
nishing light and power, acts as a regulator upon the prices 
charged for current by the private corporations, and is 
largely responsible for Seattle's ability to truthfully claim 
to have the cheapest manufacturing power of any city in the 
country. 

Seattle is one of the best lighted cities in the world. The 
residence section, the parks, the boulevards and the water 
front are all brilliantly illuminated in keeping with the busi- 
ness section, in which there are twenty-one miles of cluster 
lights. 




16 



I 



Seattle has 178 miles of paved streets, 121 miles of planked 
streets, and 617 miles of graded streets. In the business 
districts and on streets subjected to the heavier forms of 
traffic, the paving is of vitrified brick and stone blocks, 
extending from which, as traffic conditions warrant, run the 
miles of smooth asphalt, heavily based and constantly main- 
tained in the highest degree of excellence. 

Since 1904 Seattle has spent $5,440,000 in parks, play- 
grounds and boulevards, the total area devoted to these pur- 
poses being 1,803 acres. The whole wonderful system — 
parks, playgrounds and scenic boulevards — is the working 
out of a single comprehensive plan. The Park Board's sta- 
tistics for 1912, covering only the twelve supervised play- 
grounds, show an aggregate daily attendance of 785,479, of 
which number 299,300 were under fourteen years of age, and 
309,050 were between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one. 
No city in the country of twice Seattle's population shows 
such consideration for the care, entertainment and whole- 
some exercise of its children. 

It is a matter of record in the Federal census of 1910 that 
Seattle's death rate of 10.1 is the lowest of any city in the 
United States. The figures for 1913 show a death rate of but 
8.19 per thousand. In its rate of infant mortality Seattle is 
in a class by itself, the percentage being almost infinitesimal. 
According to verified statistics, the loss by death in Seattle 
of children under five years of age is but 189 to the 100,000. 

With the opening of the school year of 1913-14, the city's 
record for enrollment was broken by the registration of 
27,995 day pupils, to which must be added the six thousand- 
odd individuals attending night school. The sixty-five grade 
and six high schools are splendid examples of the most 
modern ideas in school architecture. 

Eleven hundred teachers are required for the schools. The 
appraised valuation of the property of the Seattle School 
District is $5,455,000, and the schools are supported by the 
taxation of property having a total assessed valuation of 
$215,000,000. 

Leading on from the high schools and amplifying the edu- 
cational facilities of Seattle is the State University, located 
in the northeastern part of the city on a campus of 355 
acres, amply endowed with state lands and owning some of 
the most valuable property in the business district of the 
city, formerly the site of the old Territorial University. 

Seattle's public library buildings and property are valued 
at more than one million dollars, a considerable investment 
for public education and recreation and significant of the 
rate of community growth in the fact that the investment 



Millions 
spent on 
parks and 
playgrounds 



a high 
standard 
of schools 



17 




handsome 

business blocks 

churches 

and schools 



Seattle 

a big 

amusement 

city 



was begun only ten years ago. In addition to the main 
building, the Library Board maintains eight branches and 
several deposit stations in rented quarters in various neigh- 
borhoods. Over two hundred thousand volumes are at the 
command of readers and the number is constantly being 
increased. 

Every religious denomination and every form of worship 
known to civilized peoples is represented in Seattle. Each 
of the larger divisions of the Christian faith has from four 
to a dozen or more churches located in various parts of the 
city. The congregations are large and the edifices in which 
they assemble are striking examples of church architecture. 
The benevolent societies, the missionary organizations, and 
the social gatherings of the people are active in good work 
and in promoting the best interests of the city as a whole. 

The secret and benevolent organizations have large mem- 
berships, and own some magnificent meeting places. Fra- 
ternalism has a strong hold on the people. It is used to 
promote the real objects of the different orders, and to work 
for the common good of the residents of Seattle and 
vicinity. 

First and lasting impressions of a city are created by con- 
ditions disclosed in its business districts. Building for 
business purposes in Seattle has kept stride with every de- 
velopment in architecture and represents every sound theory 
of modern construction. Even the older business buildings, 
fully occupied for many years, stand as examples of the 
best that was known at the time of their building. Of the 
newer structures, from the Joshua Green Block, at Fourth 
Avenue and Pike Street, a ten-story building, to the forty- 
two story L. C. Smith Building, located three-quarters of a 
mile south, and many others of similar character and varying 
size, it is only necessary to say that they are splendid ex- 
amples of all that is most modern and approved. 

Seattle has superior facilities for the accommodation of 
the traveling public and convention visitors. Its modern, 
spacious, comfortable hotels are equal to any to be found in 
the country. Within a radius of a mile there are 10,000 
hotel rooms, while 40,000 rooms are within easy car ride of 
the station. 

Seattle enters upon its diversions as heartily as it does 
upon all the serious considerations in which the life and 
progress of a great city are involved. Five of Seattle's 
theaters were built for the presentation of the largest at- 
tractions. Three were built and are managed expressly for 
the presentation of high-class vaudeville. Nearly one hun- 
dred, three of their number having a seating capacity of from 




18 



four hundred to a thousand persons each, are given over to 
the popular photo-plays 

Taken as a whole, Seattle's array of play-houses is the 
finest of any city in the West, and the patronage of play- 
goers and amusement seekers — a steady and dependable pat- 
ronage — runs to enormous figures. All of the Seattle thea- 
ters are comfortable, well-equipped, and adequately protected 
against accident, fire and panic. The interior of one of the 
houses — The Orpheum — is conceded to be the best appointed 
and the most sumptuous of any theater in the United States. 

As a city of homes Seattle justly claims the attention and 
excites the admiration of every visitor. In a dozen different 
districts, giving an outlook over the harbor or the lakes, and 
not infrequently both, facing either toward the towering 
Cascade Mountains on the East or the rugged Olympics on 
the West, are hundreds upon hundreds of beautiful homes, 
many of them surrounded by spacious grounds, as strong 
evidence of the home-loving instinct of Seattle people of 
means as the big buildings down-town are of their commer- 
cial enterprise. 

And now the inevitable question presents itself — what has 
been the effect, in so far as realty values are concerned, of 
all these gigantic growth, wealth and population-producing 
influences and conditions? Perhaps the best answer to the 
query is found in the following article from one of the local 
papers, by R. W. Hill, probably the foremost authority on 
real estate values in Seattle: 

"In searching old records, I recently discovered in my 
office a relic which I prize highly. It is a map of the central 
portion of Seattle extending from Massachusetts Street on 
the south to Mercer on the north, and from the bay front 
to Lake Washington. Upon this map are certain notations 
which I made in January, 1903, showing my own appraisals 
of properties in the various portions of the section covered 
by this map which was prepared by me at the request of a 
friend in the East to whom was offered certain properties 
for sale. The map was returned to me and I have kept it for 
reference. 

"On October 20th last, I noted with ink of a different 
color my ideas as to today's values on the same properties 
marked as of the former date. To persons whose memories 
fail them or who never knew the values of property in Seattle 
ten years ago, these figures make an interesting comparison. 

TIDE LAND DISTRICT 

"Beginning with that section of tide lands lying below the 
G. N. & N. P. depot and extending to Massachusetts Street, 
were noted 'Railroad Terminals' and factory sites, mills. 



beautiful 
scenery 
surrounds 
the city 



tremendous 
increase 
in realty 
values 



19 




indisputable 

facts 

that have 

been proven 



residence 
property 

greatly 
increases 

in value 



foundries, etc., filled and unfilled tide lands, prices from 
$2,000 to $20,000 per lot. 

"Upon the same section the quotations as of this year are 
$10,000 to $100,000 per lot. Upon the site of the N. P. depot 
in 1903 was marked 'Site for G. N. & N. P. depot.' Land 
purchased for $285,000. Alongside of this site today's nota- 
tion stands 'Site for O.-W. and C. M. & P. S. depot,' pur- 
chased in 1906 for several million dollars. Upon that section 
of the business district bounded by a line east and west 120 
feet north of Pike Street up to the alley between Fifth and 
Sixth Avenues and southward to Union Street, thence west- 
ward to Third Avenue, thence south to Jackson Street, and 
westward to the bay, was marked, in 1903, 'Primary business 
district.' Prices range from $1,000 to $2,000 per front foot. 

SECONDARY BUSINESS 

"Upon a district extending a few blocks north and east 
of this primary business section was marked 'Secondary 
business district.' Prices range from $2,000 to $20,000 per 
lot. Prices in this section today are $20,000 to $150,00 per lot. 

"Upon the first hill was indicated in 1903, 'High-class 
residence property. Prices $4,000 to $5,000 per lot 60x120 
feet.' In this section today prices are $10,000 to $30,000 
per lot. 

"Around the Broadway High School in 1903 indicated 
'Good residence property.' The notation of this year is 
'Secondary business property, held as high as $25,000 per lot.' 

"On the second hill up to Twentieth Avenue, notation of 
1903 was, 'Residence property. Prices $1,000 to $2,000.' To- 
day prices there are $4,000 to $6,000, with some much higher. 

"Upon the blank space on the face of the map was made the 
following notation: 

MUST BE CIRCUMSCRIBED. 
" 'On account of the contour of the ground the business 
district in Seattle must always be circumscribed, and con- 
sequently prices within this limit will go very high. The 
district inclosed within the inside lines of this map is nearly 
all occupied. Prices for land as well as rents are high. 
Heavy business is beginning to extend into the area marked 
'Secondary business district.' With the growth of the city 
this secondary district is sure to come into demand for busi- 
ness purposes, and prices which are reasonable now will ad- 
vance to high figures.' 

"In October, of this year, this additional remark was made: 

" 'The notation hereon in red was made by myself January, 

1903. Circumscribed area of business property has since 

been knocked out by regrades and prices then thought high 




20 



have been so far advanced that figures of that date seem 
ridiculous from the standpoint of today.' 

"These comparative figures and statements will be of great 
interest at the end of another decade, when I propose to 
view the attitude of today from the standpoint of 1923." 

Avoiding the presentation of too many unvarnished, and 
therefore perhaps uninteresting statistics, we will simply 
state, as an obvious fact, that there has been a corresponding 
increase in the value of residential property. As we said 
at the outset, realty values are in direct proportion to a 
city's population, and since we have demonstrated the tre- 
mendous increase in values that has taken place in the busi- 
ness section of Seattle, it is evident that the city has grown 
in population', it follows that these people must establish 
residences and it is therefore axiomatic that residential 
realty values have increased porportionately. 

From the "Reports on City Real Estate Values," compiled 
by the Seattle Real Estate Association, we derive the fol- 
lowing information: The highest price ever paid for prop- 
erty in Seattle, after deducting the value of the improve- 
ments, was $4,500 per front foot, which was paid for a loca- 
tion on Second Avenue. There are twenty city blocks whose 
value is within 25% of this figure. The net interest paid 
by fully improved business property on the selling value 
is 8%. The market value of the best wholesale business 
property is placed at $1,000 per front foot, this property is 
located in the neighborhood of Jackson Street and First 
Avenue South. There are about twenty blocks which are 
worth within 25% of this price. The best apartment house 
property is worth about $500 per front foot on what is known 
as "First Hill," in the vicinity of Madison, Boren and Terry 
Avenues. There is half a square mile of residence property 
on Capitol Hill whose value per front foot ranges from 
$100 to about $75. The best suburban residence property is 
located in the University and Lake Washington districts 
and has a value per front foot of about $40. This class of 
property has electric transportation facilities, is within 30 
or 40 minutes or from three to five miles of the center of 
the city and is reached on a four-cent fare. The market 
value of the best property for working men's cottages is 
about $7.50 to $15 per front foot. 

A presentation in miniature of Seattle's more noticeable 
activities at present and the latest symptoms of her record- 
breaking growth, may be considered worth while, inasmuch 
as they show conditions in the city as they are today. 

From the local daily press we glean the following inter- 
esting items: Bank clearings for the month of September 



business 
property 
pays good 
revenue 



bank 
clearings 
ever 
increasing 



21 




great 

building 

activity 



Seattle 

leads 

in imports 

and exports 

on coast 



reached $59,085,414, smashing all records. Every day's clear- 
ings went above the two million mark and the magnificent 
showing presents Seattle supreme as the commercial giant of 
the Northwest, no other Pacific Coast city's September re- 
turns approaching it within five million dollars. Assay Office 
receipts for the first nine months of 1913 are more than 
double those of 1912 for the corresponding period, the exact 
figures being $5,423,676.57 to noon of September 30th. The 
money order branch of the local postoffice broke all records 
during the month of September also. During the month a 
total of $756,457.30 came into Seattle through the govern- 
men money order department alone — a gain of almost 
$400,000 over the same month last year. The parcels post 
department shows a gain of 25^r during the first nine months 
of 1913 over the corresponding period of 1912. But three 
cities in the United States outranked Seattle in per cent of 
gain in building in 1913 to August 1st, Seattle's permits 
amounting to $7,216,515, and being excelled only by those of 
Cleveland, Newark and Pittsburgh. The State Bureau of 
Inspection reports that Seattle's municipally owned property 
is worth $63,126,115.45, and that her assets exceed her lia- 
bilities by $45,023,063. Imports and exports show a gain for 
August, 1913, of $1,558,593 over those of August, 1912. And 
so the story runs. In practically every phase of its com- 
mercial activity Seattle shows a surprising increase over 
the figures of the past. 

The following editorial from the Seattle Sun is a very fair 
and unbiased statement of conditions as they exist today and 
of what may be expected in the future: 

"What we may expect when we carry out Seattle's com- 
prehensive port plans is indicated by the government report, 
which shows that the Washington District for July, in both 
exports and imports, was ahead of San Francisco. In the 
same month Puget Sound was surpassed only by New York, 
Philadelphia, Boston and New Orleans, which means that 
this port is the fifth port of the country. 

"Imports for July in the San Francisco district amounted 
to $4,224,741, as against $4,595,731 for the Washington dis- 
trict. San Francisco's exports amounted to $3,485,475, and 
Washington's exports amounted to $4,592,154 for the same 
month. 

"The report is significant for the reason that it is the first 
time in history that this district has led the San Francisco 
district. 

"But the real importance of the matter is in the fact that it 
shows that Seattle is going steadily ahead. San Francisco 
is a great port and always will be a great port. But the 
last few years have conclusively demonstrated the fact that 




22 



Seattle is destined to be the greatest port on the Pacific 
littoral. The reasons for Seattle's supremacy, of course, are 
obvious. Seattle is closer to the Orient than any other 
Pacific Coast city. That means that the great transconti- 
nental railroads will dump in this city the bulk of the freight 
consigned to Oriental ports, and also that passengers headed 
for the Orient will pass through this city. 

"Moreover, even if we omit the large business of Alaska, 
which in itself would give us the lead, Seattle is the center 
of a great industrial and commercial empire; it is in the 
heart of a marvellously rich section, a center destined to be 
richer in productiveness than that tributary to San Francisco 
or any other port on the Pacific. It is logical, therefore, for 
Seattle to take the lead on this Coast." 

While the Atlantic seaboard fronts toward a quarter of 
the world's inhabitants, the Pacific Coast of the United 
States has one-half of the world's inhabitants on the opposite 
shore. The awakening of the densely populated Oriental 
countries to the uses and advantages of modern appliances 
and products, and the better commercial relations now exist- 
ing between the countries of the East and the more highly 
civilized lands of the Occident, have created commerce that 
has helped to quadruple the shipping of the Port of Seattle, 
has brought railroads post-haste to the city, have immeasur- 
ably added to her wealth and population and in the years 
to come will play an ultra-important part in making Seattle 
the New York of the Pacific Coast. 

No imagination is necessary to see Seattle as a city of 
over 500,000 population in 1915, nor as a city of a million 
within the ten years following the opening of the Panama 
Canal. Nor is it a flight of fancy to say that within five years, 
what are today the outlying districts will then be well within 
the city's limits and occupied by the homes of prosperous 
new citizens of this great and growing metropolis. Today 
a five-mile circle will more than cover the limits of the city, 
and even today people are looking for homes beyond the 
city's present bounds. 

The commerce of the Pacific is in its infancy; manufactur- 
ing is in its swaddling clothes. Civilization is extending her 
lines in the East and with man's enlightenment there comes a 
demand for the products of the more advanced nations. 
Seattle is the Gateway to the Orient and Alaska, the nearest 
port of call from the countries with which the greatest 
volume of business is now transacted, and from whence will 
come increased trade. 

The appropriation of approximately $20,000,000 for harbor 
improvements evidences that the citizens of the Sound City 



Pacific Coast 
faces half of 
world's 
population 



$20,000,00 
voted for 
harbor 
improvements 



23 







Seattle 

offers 

great chance 

to investor 



are alive to the necessities o£ the situation. Seattle as a 
residential, industrial or manufacturing center, has much 
to recommend it to the individual seeking the ideal home, 
or to the business man, company or corporation looking for a 
location where material is available, power abundant and 
cheap, and transportation by rail or water that is unexcelled. 
It has even more to commend it to the individual seeking 
an investment that is at once safe and profitable. Great as 
has been the increases in population, industry, and realty 
values during the past fifteen years, they are but indicative 
of what may be expected to occur in even greater degree 
during the years to come. The history of New York realty 
is about to be re-enacted and it is the individual who today 
purchases Seattle real estate that will profit most by the 
city's future growth. 

Never in the history of Seattle was there a more opportune 
time to invest in city realty or in property lying close to 
the present corporate limits. Fortunes have been made in 
the past from Seattle lands when the conditions, both in- 
ternal and external, were not nearly so favorable as those 
which exist today. Seattle property offers now to the fore- 
sighted investor, the maximum of profit at a minimum risk. 
It is as certain to increase in value as is "the earth to continue 
in its orbit. 

Ever since the beginning of history, it has been from the 
partially developed industries and countries of promise, that 
the greatest improvements and increases in value have been 
expected and realized. And it is under these circumstances 
that the largest number and amount of individual fortunes 
have been created. 

Now note this : Whatever the benefits of the Panama Canal 
are to the world as a whole, they will be most acutely felt 
and their results most noticeable in Seattle and the North- 
west, because the completion and operation of the Panama 
Canal means that Seattle will not only be put upon an equal 
basis with the other great ports of the world, but because 
of her present great, and but partly developed, natural, geo- 
graphical and industrial resources and advantages, Seattle 
has and will increase its enormous superiority over all other 
cities of the earth in the struggle for the lion's share of the 
commerce of the Pacific, the Orient and Alaska, and her 
realty values will increase in proportion to her growth. 

[FINIS] 




P D '9 5. 



24 



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